


I Hope Soda Isn't Code for Drinks and a Date

by canisspiritus (renardroi)



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-06 11:42:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3133121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renardroi/pseuds/canisspiritus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's just a science project, Parvis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Phone Numbers, Planaria, and Lunch Tables

**Author's Note:**

> I pretty much haven't revised my writing, or checked to make sure any of this made sense, so I'm sorry. Also this is kinda hilariously far from my usual stuff. Lord help me.

“I don’t suppose you’ll give me your number.” Parv says with a coy smile.

It’s quite a question, Will thinks as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. It’s not like he wouldn’t want to give Parvis his number, under normal circumstances, it’s just the act of physically giving another person your number in high school usually means that you’re probably about to fuck them - according to everyone else. And Will knows enough about Parv to know that he regales his friends, and anyone within earshot (the whole damn school), with tales of his adventures and recent conquests. He's not up for the gossip that comes with handing over his number.

However, they _are_ supposed to do this lab together, and that means they’re going to have to work together outside of school, if only for the paper on it that comes afterwards.

“My email,” he compromises, and offers to write it down. Parv shakes his head, his smile wide, and says he’ll remember it. Doubtful, Will writes it down anyways, giving him an entire page out of his notebook, with his email written in tiny neat font. If it says anything about how nervous he is giving out his email, he doesn’t realize it.

It’s just – it’s the email he’s going to use on college applications.

* * *

“You didn’t reply to my email.” Parv says the next day. Will stops what he’s doing, carefully setting down the petri dish full of water. Parvis had emailed him? That’s…surprising, to say the least. He’d kind of hoped Parvis would be too disappointed he hadn’t gotten his number to email him. Plus, trying to flirt over email was pretty much unheard of. He fishes out his cellphone and glares at it while it loads his inbox, trying to remember what he was doing yesterday that kept him from looking at his phone.

Oh well, whatever it was, it wasn’t checking his email. And sure enough, there’s a single unread email in his inbox from Parv. He hesitates before opening it, glancing up at his pouting lab partner.

“What’d you say?” Will asks dubiously, then realizes he hasn’t explained himself. “S – sorry, I just didn’t think you’d email me yet.”

Parvis perks up immediately. “I sent you my number.”

Will rolls his eyes hard and shoves his phone back in his pocket. “Go get more dishes, Parv.”

* * *

“The paper’s due Tuesday.” Parv says suddenly, startling Will. “I didn’t realize it was so _soon_.”

Will squints at the petri dishes, and the planarian in the one in front of him. He puts the scalpel down on the tray, giving Parvis a confused look.

“What?” He asks, exasperated, as Parvis picks up the scalpel and twirls it. “It’s been due Tuesd – stop, Parv. You’re gonna – don’t get us in trouble.” He doesn’t say what he started to, and has to stop himself from lunging for the blade. No point in getting injured just to stop Parv from being a fucking idiot.

“I know, it just seems like, you know…” He puts the scalpel back, tossing it somewhat carelessly into the tray as he laments to Will about the paper.

“Uh – uhh, no. I don’t.” Will replies as he picks up one of the rulers and slides it under the dish. “The due date’s been the same since we started.”

“Mm,” Parv replies. He looks like he’s about to say something but they both stay quiet for the rest of the class.

* * *

 _I sent u the pics_ , was the text Will got on Thursday in the middle of eating lunch. He blinks at his phone in surprise. He’d only asked about the pictures 15 minutes ago. Putting his food down, he flips over to his email and glances through it before texting Parv back.

 _Thanks_ , he says.

_anything else u need?_

Will starts to reply, only to be surprised by Parvis sliding into the seat next to him, grinning at him. He puts his arm easily around Will, who tenses and stares straight ahead. On top of Parv somehow finding him, the rest of his friends very quickly joined them, piling in around the small table (and loudly squabbling amongst each other) Will had hoarded for himself for ages.

“So, did you need anything? Besides my good company, of course.” Will relaxes slightly as Parvis removes his arm, glad that he at least wasn’t being pestered by the others.

“Oh, uh, I – I can do the graphs. But I need the data tables that I gave you.” Which, he’d given unwillingly, just for the record. Parv, however, had told him he carried too much ‘junk’ around anyways, and promised sincerely enough to take care of them.

“Mm,” Parv says with a mouthful of food. “Yeah, the folder’s in my locker. You can meet me there after school.”

“Uh, sure.”

* * *

“Too bad Steven didn’t make it. I really wanted to do the two heads thing.” Parv tells him conversationally, as the rest of the school slowly file out and into the city. The locker swings open and clangs against its neighbor, as Parvis comments on someone else’s experiment.

“At least Jim One and Jim Two made it.” Will tells him after a moment, feeling amiable. Parv turns away from the locker to smile brightly at him.

“I was worried! After Jerry Two died, and Steven stopped growing I was sure the rest of them would too. But, you know, I’m the one who cut Jim in half. And Becky. And they both lived.”

“Are you blaming me for the death of our planaria?” Will crosses his arms, trying to look put out.

“I’m just saying maybe you should get your eyesight checked, maybe get glasses.”

“They’re tiny. How am I supposed to know if it’s perfectly in half?” He protests.

“I guess I just have a discerning gaze,” Parv grins and elbows him lightly, pleased. There’s a moment of silence, Strife almost smiling back at him, though he’s still pretending to be hurt. Finally, Parv picks the folder up out of the locker and hands it to him.

“I don’t think having a ‘discerning gaze’ means you're able to cut a tiny organism perfectly in half, Parv.” He says, accepting the folder and hugging it to his chest.

“Well, I can discern that you’re a lot better at this than I am.” Parvis says, uncharacteristically quiet.

“I dunno, all I’m doing is compiling the data.” Will shrugs. “Like you said, you actually managed to cut the planaria.”

Parvis shrugs back. “See you tomorrow?”

“Y – yeah, sure.”

* * *

_what are u doing on wednesday?_

Will taps his fingers against his chin as he thinks.

 _Uh school? And I hope u are_ – Wait no. Parvis’ texting habits seem to be rubbing off on him. And worse, saying he hopes Parv is at school is a bad idea – and he knows better. He deletes it and fixes it.

 _Uh school? And you better be, too_.

He goes back to typing a paper for English, an analysis of Frankenstein, and due Monday. It’s a little more pressing than what Will suspects is a thinly veiled attempt at flirting. So he misses the text tone for Parv’s reply - replies, and doesn’t see it until after dinner later that night.

 _awh will I didn’t know u cared lol_  
_I meant after school tho_  
 _u should celebrate!! u have like two essays and then the test?_  
 _I’ll buy u a soda from the corner store?_

A soda’s fine, right? Just a soda. And Will is pretty sure Parv walks that way with his friends anyways, so it’s not like it’s out of the way.

_Sure. Also I sent you the essay so far. Can you add the sources?_

_yeah np I’ll finish it_

* * *

“Can you email me the finished version?” Will asks as he sits down at the table for lunch. They’d abandoned his table after Leo had complained loudly that it was too small – for the third time in 5 minutes – and he was right. So they’d agreed to switch to one of the bigger tables, much to Will’s distaste. The bigger tables are more crowded, the area’s noisy, and it’s oddly cold in the shade. But he figures he needs to just finish everything up with the lab and the essay, and then Parvis and them can comfortably go back to enjoying their table without Will.

Plus, he’s noticed people seem to give him dirty looks when he sits near here, so it’s just best for everyone that they get through this, and then go back to normal.

“Yeah, anything you need.” Parv is the only one who looks honestly comfortable in all this ridiculous, high school social unrest. He’s seated backwards, facing the rest of the school rather than the table. Sometimes he waves and shouts at people. It had been startling in the quiet of Will's own table, but here it just seems to fade into the background.

“ _Anything_ you need, Will,” Kogie repeats suddenly, putting his hand dramatically over his heart. The rest of the table laughs. Will freezes, uncertain.

“Um,” he says brightly, his face burning. After a moment’s hesitation he picks up his things, avoiding everyone else gaze, though they don’t seem to be paying much attention to him.

“Uh, I – I’m gonna go. I have to, uh –” He barely glances at Parvis, unable to make eye contact. He leaves in a rush, embarrassed and feeling humiliated.


	2. Notebooks, Soda, and Vapor

 Maybe it was an overreaction, he thinks as he’s pouring over his notebook. He keeps coming back to this, even though he’s supposed to be studying for the test that’s in _two days_. But the text that had followed his escape from lunch has been nagging at his brain, keeping him from concentrating for more than ten minutes at a time.

Will sighs deeply, and tosses his notebook to the side. This is pointless, not when Parvis is being a distraction. And anyways, by now he knows about everything he’s going to know for the test, it’s a little too late to be learning it. Might as well try and relax – or come up with a game plan for the next two days.

Tomorrow the planaria paper’s due, and although he asked Parvis for the hard copy, he really hopes it’s forgotten. He doesn’t want to be around the group – especially him. Even though he’s been…relatively nice and pleasant to be around the entire time they’ve been working together. It’s just…

Well…

Is it sincere?

It can’t be.

Will shakes his head and slumps down onto his bed. Of course it’s not. It never is. Parvis…he flirts with everyone, is nice to everyone – all that waving and smiling. No one really likes that many people.

Right?

* * *

Will wakes up in the morning to new texts from Parvis. One of them contains only three small frowning emojis, and Will can’t help but make an annoyed sound as he gets dressed. Parvis knows they were just working on the project together, he _knows_ it was temporary. He’s not going to make Will feel guilty for walking away, especially after it was made obvious that everyone’s been annoyed by his presence and after Parv’s blatant and awkward wooing – or flirting or whatever it was – for the past few weeks. It’s not going to work, it’s _not_.

He just needs to get through today with the paper in science, and then tomorrow’s test. That’s all, and then Parv will realize that whatever he’s doing isn’t working.

That plan is all fine and dandy until Parvis plonks down next to him in class, looking angry, but mostly hurt. There’s a moment of uncomfortable silence, Will unable to lift his gaze from his hands, folded neatly on the table, before Parvis pulls out a small, stapled stack of papers and slaps it on the table. Oh, it looks like he _has_ brought it then.

“That’s yours,” Parvis says meekly.

Will doesn’t reply, as seems to be the ongoing theme with their conversations now. So Parvis speaks again, persistent, “I don’t know – I don’t understand why you’re so upset.”

Without thinking, Will makes a face at the statement and Parvis obviously seems to notice.

“It was just a joke!”

“Of course it was.” Will bites back. “It’s _always_ just a joke.”

“What does that mean?”

He turns and glares at Parvis, “It’s always just a joke, but at my expense, asshole. I don’t…know what you’re doing but stop.”

The teacher loudly asks them to return to their assigned seats and Parv storms off, leaving Will sulking at his desk and staring at the paper.

* * *

Much to his disappointment, Parvis approaches him again at lunch.

His normally private table has strangers lingering, onlookers who are listening in on whatever’s happening in Parv’s life like the gluttonous bloodthirsty leeches they are. He shouldn’t be surprised, but it makes everything worse, since people are staring at him in contempt - like somehow _he’s_ the bad guy in all this.

Parvis stomps up to his table, all long legs and looking angrier than he had in class. He towers over Will, especially since Will remains in his seat.

“I’m pretty sure – “ Parvis starts.

“Listen, Parvis, just – “ Will cuts him off, not exactly eager to hear whatever insults, angry remarks, or what have you, that he has prepared.

“No! Let me fini – “

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” He says, raising his voice, and then groans into his hands. Will keeps his head down, waiting for a response, for Parv to stubbornly tell him no and to argue loudly. Nothing happens. It’s quiet, as far as he can hear.

When he lifts his head, he realizes it’s because Parvis has left. He’s not sure how to feel about it.

* * *

He gets a text around midnight, the phone going off next to his ear since he had fallen asleep mindlessly browsing the internet and playing games on his phone. Will blinks, sees the phone light up and rolls over, going right back to sleep. Whatever it is, it can wait until morning.

He remembers the text on the way to school, recalling waking up in pitch blackness. Damn, usually he kept the sound off, 24/7 with very few exceptions, but ever since Parv had started texting him, it had seemed pertinent to keep the sound on, so he could catch the messages.

Ugh, speak of the devil and he shall appear. The phone vibrates softly, another text from Parv.

_I’m sorry. Even tho I dont get it. Pls talk to me._

Maybe he’ll reply later – maybe. He shouldn’t. Regardless, he has a test to get to, he doesn’t need to be texting some guy, he needs to get to school and maybe cram a few minutes of review in before class.

* * *

_I like you._

What does that mean? What does ‘I like you’ mean? What kind of like? And why is he sending this? Is this another attempt at wooing him or something? Trying to change his mind, convince him to stop being angry?

He sighs and tucks his phone back into his pocket. Really, he shouldn’t have checked. He’d been ignoring what felt like the near-constant buzz of his phone up until now. This really is excessive, but he shouldn't be surprised. He should have expected Parvis would freak out when he realized he couldn’t get into Will’s pants just as easily as that. He should have known not to give him his number.

Maybe tonight he should see about changing it.

It’s just – well, they needed to do the project. And emailing was slow.

Shouts at the end of the hall distract him from his thoughts. People crowd around the doors, peering out and talking loudly. Shit, it’s raining isn’t it? It’d been cloudy all morning, but he hadn’t expected _rain_. He'd been planning on taking a couple of textbooks home today, rather than carrying all five of them the last day before break.

Will opens his bag and pulls out anything that looks vulnerable – and won’t be needed tonight, filing it all away into his locker. The mile and three quarters walk home is enough time for the rain to soak through, even if he’d brought an umbrella to try to keep the rain off. He makes a mental note to put his umbrella next to his backpack when he gets home.

He might need it tomorrow.

* * *

Christ, no wonder people had been shouting and staring at the rain. It isn’t raining, it's fucking pouring. By the time he gets two blocks, there’s already small rivers forming in the streets. The water is starting to soak through on his shoulders and his hood will probably be obsolete in another block. He’s very conscious of the puddles and the water rushing through the gutters, trying to avoid them. If his shoes and socks get soaked, he’ll be shivering until he gets home, changes, makes tea and wraps a blanket around himself.

He pauses under a tree, which, while it means the rain is less constant, the raindrops are fatter and still a nuisance. Will hovers over his phone, checking for messages. Sometimes mom was off by now, so he’d texted her to see if he could get a ride. It felt like it was already starting to rain harder, if that was at all possible. No such luck, though, and despite his efforts, the water dripped and splattered across the phone screen.

He sighs and wipes it off, quickly putting it away again.

“Will!”

Surprised, Will turns around to look for whomever had called him. Most people had abandoned walking home, begging parents to pick them up in cars or getting rides from friends, leaving the sidewalks empty and very, very wet. A few of the slower parents were still driving past, making waves in the water.

“Will. Hey.” It’s Parv. Of course. He looks warm, and mostly dry, an umbrella over his shoulder and comfortably wrapped in a thick jacket and a scarf.

“Uh, hey, Parv.” Will says slowly, as Parvis crowds close, holding the umbrella over the both of them. There’s an awkward, stilted silence that Will tries not to interrupt, watching Parvis. He looks a bit like he’s trying to figure out what to say, and honestly Will needs to too.

“So, I don’t suppose you still want to get a soda with me?”

There’s something strange about the way he says it. Will realizes Parv’s never sounded nervous, but the question sounds…less confident, in a sense. Even though he still has that cocky attitude and that irritating smirk on his face, Will starts to feel bad for ignoring all the texts. Especially the one that had said ‘ _I don’t get it_ ’.

“You did agree to it. I’m just checking to see if you’re cancelling. Or maybe a _rain check_?” He interrupts Will’s thoughts, giving him a half-hearted smile.

“Uh,” Will says, uninspiringly. Even with his sweater soaked with cold water and his hands jammed into equally wet pockets, he’s beginning to warm up with Parv merely standing next to him. Or maybe it’s the umbrella.

“That’s not a no.” Parv replies, easily filling the silence.

Will sighs, the condensation from is breath just barely visible. “Only if you walk me home. I don’t have an umbrella.”

“I noticed." 


End file.
